the journeys & musings of Bill Edelman

Not long after the 70′s were surrendered to the history books, I was anxious to get my hands on a personal computer. My appetite was whetted several years earlier by the introduction of Radio Shack’s TRS-80, Commodore’s PET, and the Apple II, none of which I could afford. I was especially keen on the TRS-80 since it was expertly marketed through Tandy’s Radio Shack stores and easily accessible for the public to see and touch. Unfortunately, the next wave of personal computer offerings would be more robustly featured and naturally a bit more pricey.

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Born at the tail end of the baby boomer epoch, I had the good fortune early in my career to stumble into an industry that jumped onto the crowded coattails of early microprocessor technology. On a recreational level, I voluntarily immersed myself in the fledgling world of PC’s long before they were fashionable.

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Market forces reveal that I am in the dwindling minority of those who want a simple cell phone. Or have I just fallen behind the curve? Historically, I’ve always been anxious to recognize and incorporate new technologies into daily life. I had a VCR, fax machine, PC, and PDA, all before they were fashionable. I just don’t seem to be adapting to the wave of cell phone features, let alone lead the pack of enthusiasts.
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My best computer advice is that Americans should become as obsessed with backing up their PC as they are with using sunscreen. If you own a PC, sooner or later (and most likely more than once), you will have an experience where stuff on it will be lost for any number of reasons. (more…)

The creation of the National Do Not Call Registry (www.donotcall.gov) has certainly benefited the public at large. Personally, I am darn glad that it was conceived and more importantly, implemented effectively. The FTC should be commended for the success of the program, in particular their user friendly telephone and web-based registration process. Recently there has been attention given to the 5-year expiration of telephone numbers registered during the inception of the database.
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We all spend a lot of time in the extremely forgiving virtual world. The opportunity to evaluate the results of an action such as a font, background color or image size, with the choice to ‘undo’, is a unique luxury of personal computing. So how cool would it be if we could reverse something we did or said with a personal undo function? I think, very cool.
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During the Labor Day weekend, I had the pleasure of an invitation to go sailing with Jim, a longtime friend. We seldom get together for lunch let alone spend an entire day together, so going out for an afternoon sail was indeed a compound treat for me. If you’ve never been on a sail boat, I sincerely recommend that you seize the opportunity should it arise. (more…)

As my daughters have become more mobile, I’ve come to terms with selling our trailer at Panther Lake, NJ. We’ve had a trailer on the same site there since 1996.
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As with other National Historic Regions (e.g. Washington D.C.), the U.S. National Park Service provides free access as well as many free tours of historic buildings and monuments in and around Independence Mall.
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What visit to Philadelphia would be complete without a peek at the legendary Liberty Bell?
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